To Pee or not to Pee

First of all let me say that I am involved in the worst planned office move in the history of Corporate America. Okay, maybe that's a bit harsh, but it hasn't gone so well thus far. We are combining two separate offices into one bigger office and they are reusing the cubes from my office which they tore down yesterday. Our official move date is August 17. Yes, that is no less than two weeks away. We still have our conference room tables, so that is where we are working right now.



But to make matters worse, there seems to have developed, a water main leak right in front of our building and we all showed up this morning to discover that our water has been shut off. Yes, that means no bathrooms. Now, every morning I fill my wonderful Nissan travel mug (this mug is amazing and keeps things hot for hours) up with some delicious homemade coffee and bring it to work with me. I enjoy this so much more than the office coffee which is swill. However, one travel mug of coffee = two trips to the bathroom. This usually starts around 9:30.



Well what do you know, it is 9:20 and I am already doing the pee pee dance. I think I'm going to have to breakdown and go to Target. Hmmm, while I'm there, maybe I'll check out their home goods......

Pink Hearts, Yellow Moons, Orange Stars, Green Clovers

We're nearing a year in our house and we've finally decided to paint. Our house has the open floor plan, so just about every wall spans two rooms. I will never buy another house with the open floor plan again. No thank you. I have spent the last week dithering over paint colors. I want some color because I am so sick of flat white paint, but I'm worried of going overboard. (Remember the red room at my condo?) But the pressure. This color matches my living room, but will clash with my kitchen. My husband wants me to get some sort of olive color, but all of my accents are red and I don't want it to look like Christmas all year round. Then he wants to go with satin finish in the entire house. I want eggshell. So finally today, we settled on colors for the downstairs powder room and the upstairs guest bedroom. And he gets his green, because I'm putting it in the spare room-on one wall. We compromised and got satin for the bathroom and eggshell for the bedroom and we will discuss the rest once I come to a decision on the rest of the colors.

We painted the powder room this afternoon. It's tiny so it didn't take that long. However, he insisted on starting to paint before I was done taping and it is a tiny room so we kept bumping into each other. Also, he wanted to try not taping the ceiling. So later this week, we'll be painting the ceiling if you know what I mean (wink, wink). I can't wait to put everything back in it. I hate disorder and I've had quite my fill of it this week. My office is moving to Plymouth (insert groan here) and I have been packing up our office for the past week. So I have disorder at work and disorder at home. Might as well get it all out of the way at once, huh?

I'm seriously considering hiring a professional to paint the downstairs. It will take us a solid week to do it all which will end up being spread over a couple of weekends and I don't think I can handle that much disorder. If anyone can give me a referral for a painter, I would appreciate it.

Last Night at Dinner

We started talking about Dave being president of the United States - I'm not sure how this started. So Sam asks, "Will you make me in charge of Mars?" I tell him that he probably came from there anyway so it would be like sending him home. Then Becca asks, "Can I be in charge of Pluto?" and I say, "Why do you want to be in charge of Pluto? Pluto is in danger of losing it's planet status. Do you want to be in charge of a planet that might be on the downswing?" She says, "I will make it good again, if I'm in charge." "How you gonna do that?" I ask She says, "I will tell everyone to come to Pluto!" I say that Pluto has no way to sustain an economy. She says if they don't have enough money she will just get it from Earth. Hmmmm.

Why Not Me?

I started and finished "Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows" on Saturday. It was the perfect weekend for it to come out because the kids were at their mom's house, Dave had a test that he had to take in Southfield and I was laid up with a nasty cold. I got through it even quicker than I expected. I'm a pretty quick reader as it is, but I sailed right through it in about 7 hours or so. I took a few breaks to fold laundry and that was about it.

I know these are technically children's books, but if you enjoy fantasy, you will enjoy these books no matter what your age is. It's fun to be excited about reading again. Not to mention the fact that TV is so horrific, unoriginal, and detestable right now that it's good to have something else to do. I'm so green with envy of J.K. Rowling/I want to be J.K. Rowling. But that's another post.

Anyway, don't worry if you haven't read it yet, I won't say anything about the plot or how it ends. I'm kind of sad that it's over, but I will say that the book is very satisfying and does not really leave you wanting. I can't help but reflect on how different my life is since I first met Harry Potter......

My mom bought me books 1-4 for Christmas about 6 years ago and devoured all four of them in about a week's time (like I said, fast reader). I was still living with my parents at the time. Then I waited, like everyone else, for book 5 to come out. Book 5 I pre-ordered and it arrived on my doorstep with a thump from the Fed-ex man early that Saturday morning. I was living in my sweet little condo at the time. I read that one in a day too, but I was up late into the night finishing it. Book 6's release is hazy. I think I was in the throes of new love with my now husband then long distance boyfriend. I didn't pre-order it. I just went to the bookstore and purchased it. It was divine. (Books 4 and 6 remain my favorites) And now Book 7, again, not pre-ordered. I just got up on Saturday and went and bought it. I may be all grown up now, but at heart I'm still the little girl who spent a lot of her time reading every book she could get her hands on. I'm still the same little girl who's friends were Larua Ingalls Wilder, Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, The Girls of Canby Hall, Superfudge, The Girl with Silver Eyes (and all of her telekinetic friends), Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout, and countless other characters in countless other books that I read over and over and over again. I was more comfortable with them than I was with the girl who lived down the street (I said down the street - not across the street Val). And I appreciate the fact that J.K. Rowling could create a story that captivated not only childen, but adults as well. It has re-kindled my love of reading.

If you haven't read these books, you should. The movies don't do them justice.

Now I'm off to write my own best seller. If I can just find what I did with my creativity, because I seem to have misplaced it.

Same Old Same Old

I know I'm a weenie about keeping up with this thing. There just doesn't seem to be much to tell right now. My life consists of working, making lunches, making dinners, watching a few minutes of tv and going to bed. And before I know it, it's been a week and I haven't posted. Again.

Dave's outside killing bees and I'm in here trying to think of something interesting to blog about. I've been blog surfing lately. Two years ago I didn't even know what a blog was, now I'm looking at people's blogs who I don't know from a chick pea. It's fun to start at a blog you know, look at one of my friend's blogs. Click on one of her links, then click on one of that person's links, and so on. It's fun to see where you end up. I want to put links to all my buddies blogs on my page, but so far I haven't been able to figure out how.

I promise to work on that so you can look at my friend Katie's most adorable daughter, Molly. Or see Mandy's (you have to call her Miranda) brand spanking new baby, Max. I haven't even see him yet he's so new. Or visit the Nuthouse and hear all about Val's two little nips who keep her on her toes every day. So there, you have something to look forward to beyond my boring posts!

The Wild Goose Inn

As I mentioned, Dave and I stayed at a Bed and Breakfast last weekend to celebrate our 1st anniversary. The first night was a surprise gift from my bridesmaids and my good friend Katie. We decided to splurge and stay an extra night. We stayed at The Wild Goose Inn in East Lansing. It was right in downtown East Lansing and we arrived on Saturday afternoon, parked the car and didn't move it again until we left on Monday.

We stayed in two different suites which was cool because they all have a different theme. The first night we were in "Summer Safari" Sorry, I forgot to take the pictures right when we got there so the room was already "lived in" before I got the camera out. But you can also go the website to see their professional pictures!

The second night, we were in the "Great Lakes" suite. I felt like we were up on Mackinaw Island and this suite took up the entire second floor of the second buildings. It was very private. And it had it's own private deck where we spent much of Sunday lounging and reading which is something I have not had the luxury to do in quite some time.

There is also a nice patio connecting the two building together where you could sit and have breakfast or just hang out and relax.

Sunday we walked around the Michigan State Campus and looked at the botanical gardens. This is my reflection in the little pond. It was a very clear and still day.

We had an absolutley wonderful time. The bed and breakfast was so nice and relaxing. Thank you so much to my girls for being so amazing and thoughtful. I really feel so undeserving!

Is it just me?

I had to go to the doctor on Monday. My appointment was at 4:15. I signed in at 4:10. They did not call me back to the room until 5:00 and I did not see the doctor until 5:20. That in and of itself is bad enough, but while I was sitting in the room waiting for the doctor, his staff was standing in the hallway having the loudest and most obnoxious conversation I have ever heard. I sort of felt like I was in the mall and being how I was already a little irritated due to the fact that my time is so precious and the last thing I feel like doing is spending an hour and a half for an appointment that literally takes about 10 minutes. Fortunately, I was there for something rather minor and mostly cosmetic because I cannot imagine if I was there for a serious health issue. How would I feel to be sitting in a room alone waiting for the doctor while four overgrown teenagers stand around in the hall and gossip? Am I over-reacting or is the doctor's office another place that customer service has gone by the wayside?

A Slip of the Tongue

I'm Sorry. I know I have been blog slacking for the past couple of weeks. Work became insane and my only comfort the thought of the upcoming vacation. And now it's here! We stayed Saturday and Sunday night at the B&B. Thank you Donna, Alison, Mandy and Katie - it was wonderful. I still need to transfer the pictures from my camera so expect a post in the next couple days detailing everything.

I am actually running out the door in a few minutes but I wanted to share a little "kid" tidbit you might find amusing.

I took Rebecca shopping a couple weeks ago to get her some new shorts for camp. We were wandering around Kohl's and it was the typical mother-daughter shopping experience. I would pick up something and she would say it was boring. She would pick something up and I would fall on the floor and need to be revived. I don't know if you have seen some of the horrifying things they have out for little girls right now, but I am not dressing my 7 year old like Brittny Spears. Ain't happening. But those are the things she picks up. Sequins, ruffled, pink camoflauge, etc. It's all tacky and ugly. So I tell her, "Becca, you have trailer trash taste. And I don't know where you got it, but it certainly wasn't from me." Probably not the best thing to say to your 7 year old, but I slipped.

Fast forward a week. We're out trying to find a dress for me to wear to an upcoming wedding. Becca is in the dressing room with me. So I try on this dress and before I get it zipped I can tell it looks very bad on me. Becca wrinkles up her nose and says, "I don't like that." I say, "Me either, it looks bad on me." And she says, "My mommy would like that dress." Of course I think nothing of it. "Why would she like it?" Her adorable 7 year old response " Because she doesn't know what taste is. That's what you said."

Oh my God.